The 2026 DesignTO Awards have been announced, which recognize projects presented during this year’s DesignTO Festival in Toronto.
The 16th edition, which ran from January 23 to February 1, 2026, featured over 100 exhibitions, installations, talks, and events across the city.
Hosted at the Thermador Experience & Design Centre in Toronto, the awards ceremony featured art and design spanning furniture, product design, architecture, and textiles, with work shown in galleries, storefronts, and public spaces.
The awards were selected by a jury that included curator and writer Sarah Edo, Lemay design director Jeff Ma, artist and Polymetis co-founder Michaela MacLeod, Eric Mutrie, senior editor at Azure magazine, and creative producer and cultural programmer Michael Nyarkoh. Three People’s Choice Awards were determined by public vote.
Since its launch in 2011, DesignTO has presented work by thousands of artists and designers through its annual festival.
The following projects and designers were recognized for their contributions to this year’s Festival.
Major Awards
Founders’ Award
TO·BE·LONGING: Portraits of Queer Living by Quan Thai (with collaborators).
Emerging Artist/Designer Award
Invisible Weight by Sky Ece Ulusoy.
Best Product/Object Design Award
Rubber Lamps (at Ensemble: Pot-au-Feu) by Atelier Fomenta.
Best in Festival
Best Window Installation
Remnants for the Future by Yana Rzayeva.
Best Exhibition
Ensemble: Pot-au-Feu by D’Armes, David Raymond, Fomenta, Jean-Michel Gadoua, Jeremy Paguet, Gabriel Page, Lambert et Fils, SANGARE, Séjour, Simon Johns, Small Medium Large, Studio JETA.
Best Event
Exploring Biomaterials in Textile Applications by Ranee Lee, Becca Wakefield, Hannah Cormier, and collaborators.
People’s Choice Awards
Window Installation
STRATA by Toronto Metropolitan University.
Exhibition
Connections by Cherie Leung.
Event
Knot: Holding On by Alanoud Emaish.
Juror’s Choice Awards
Sarah Edo
No Place Like (no) Home (at Traces) by Meena Chowdhury.
The Monolith (at Assembly Not Required 3.0: Current Practices from Members of the Contemporary Textile Studio Cooperative) by Sadiq Awosanmi (Daem ArtHouse) and Mathias Dowers.
The Unfaithful Mirror, The Spiky Mirror, The Spiky Stool (at Ensemble: Pot-au-Feu) byIgor Zigor and Philippe St-Denis
Jeffrey Ma
A Rose for Remembrance (at Dying.exhibit) by Claudia Chagoya
Bacon Embroidery Workshop by Laura Carwardine
Within My Temple Lies a Home (at Traces) by Nilojan Jegatheeswaran
Michaela MacLeod
How Heavy is a Building? by Ha/f Climate Design and Make Good Projects
Local Inventory by Ouroboros Deconstruction
Tactil by Futil Studio
Eric Mutrie
Pressing Matters by Kyle Allan, Dexter Blake, Jacob Boyd, Thomas Ferreira, Kai Luk-Laughton, Mary-Beth Scully, Melissa Stocco, Patrice Temush
Touch Point Sconce (at Nice to Meet You!) by Mark Khoury Design and Devansh Shah
Working Condition (at TAPE) by Persia Duncan
Michael Nyarkoh
Gathering Light (at ALL LIGHT) by Khadija Aziz
Lineage by Good Shit Studio and Confit Design
Shift Hook (at Nice to Meet You!) by Mal Yu
